as in literati
intellectuals considered as a social class
a presidential candidate who was the darling of the intelligentsia—and very few others
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of intelligentsia
All or nothing For most of the Russian nationalist intelligentsia, Alaska is less a jewel to be recovered than a warning against any concession to the West.
—
Dan Morrison, USA Today, 14 Aug. 2025
Dipping Toes in Populist Waters Mr. Hawley belongs to a conservative intelligentsia that includes Oren Cass, the influential founder and chief economist of the think tank American Compass.
—Robert Draper, New York Times, 28 Apr. 2025
The Russian intelligentsia had once admired Ukraine, seeing in it the birthplace of the Muscovite dynasty and Orthodoxy.
—James Verini, The New Yorker, 1 Mar. 2025
The president’s hobbling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and National Labor Relations Board has upset the promoters of his domestic agenda in the intelligentsia, while his Gaza proposal has left many of his neo-isolationist boosters scrambling—or sidestepping the subject entirely.
—Yair Rosenberg, The Atlantic, 20 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for intelligentsia
Dan Morrison, USA Today, 14 Aug. 2025
Dipping Toes in Populist Waters Mr. Hawley belongs to a conservative intelligentsia that includes Oren Cass, the influential founder and chief economist of the think tank American Compass.
—Robert Draper, New York Times, 28 Apr. 2025
The Russian intelligentsia had once admired Ukraine, seeing in it the birthplace of the Muscovite dynasty and Orthodoxy.
—James Verini, The New Yorker, 1 Mar. 2025
The president’s hobbling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and National Labor Relations Board has upset the promoters of his domestic agenda in the intelligentsia, while his Gaza proposal has left many of his neo-isolationist boosters scrambling—or sidestepping the subject entirely.
—Yair Rosenberg, The Atlantic, 20 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for intelligentsia
Recent Examples of Synonyms for intelligentsia
Noun
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When healthy, Darrisaw has been among the elite left tackles in the NFL.—
Max Dible,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Oct. 2025
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These ranged from the aristocratic elite who dominated the military and bureaucracy and yearned for a return to monarchy, to communists who sought proletarian rule, to the National Socialists who wanted to establish a right-wing dictatorship.—
Time,
Time,
23 Oct. 2025
Noun
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They are ruled by a grizzled and sclerotic clerisy that funnels resources to its private army, the terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).—
Matthew Continetti,
National Review,
24 Sep. 2022
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Democrats and the public-health clerisy denounced President Trump for rushing Covid vaccines.—
Allysia Finley,
WSJ,
4 Sep. 2022
Noun
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Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who was the vice president-elect at the time, was evacuated from the DNC building when the first bomb was found.—
David Zimmermann,
The Washington Examiner,
22 Oct. 2025
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The State of Arizona sued the House of Representatives on Tuesday over Speaker Mike Johnson's decision to not swear in Rep-elect Adelita Grijalva until after the government shutdown ends.—
Lauren Peller,
ABC News,
21 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Intelligentsia.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/intelligentsia. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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